We are pleased to announce that Playhouse Stage Company is returning to the Guilderland Performing Arts Center by offering Oklahoma!, one of the most successful musicals in history.   The performances will take place at 7:30pm on Thursday, July 31 thru Saturday, August 2, and a 3pm matinee on Saturday, August 2.  All seating is free and on a first-come, first-served basis.  You can bring your own lawn chair or blanket.  

If your home has a septic system or cesspool that adversely impacts certain designated waterbodies, you may be eligible for reimbursement for replacement costs under the Septic System Replacement Fund Program.  I know several homeowners have taken advantage of this program to upgrade their septic systems. The program reimburses eligible property owners with grants for up to 50% of the costs (up to $10,000) of their eligible septic system projects. Grants are awarded only to those septic system projects that will significantly and quantifiably reduce environmental and/or public health impacts from cesspools or septic systems.   You can check your property’s eligibility by entering your property’s address.  This rare opportunity is a collaboration between the State, County, and Town, and property owners to address a pressing environmental and public health issue. 

Please remember that, if you are a senior citizen (65 years of age or older by December 31, 2025), a person with a qualifying physical disability, and/or a veteran, you have until March 1 to apply for a partial exemption on your property taxes.   Please disregard this notice if you have already applied for these exemptions or are currently receiving them.  For more information, please visit the website, call (518) 356-1980, or stop by the Assessor’s office. 

The Hedge Bistro at Western Turnpike Golf Course is open this winter on Tuesday thru Saturday from 11am to 5pm.  The menu includes popular entrees, appetizers, pizza, burgers, tacos, and desserts. The golf course’s cart paths are open for winter walks.  When measurable snow finally arrives (unfortunately, still not likely soon), the golf course will have groomed trails for cross-country skiing and paths for snowshoeing.   Town parks and Vosburgh Open Space Trails are open for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  Sledding is available at the Winter Recreation Area just past Tawasentha Park.  Nordic ski and snowshoe rentals are available at the Parks & Rec Office.

You can now reserve Tawasentha Park’s pavilions for family and local business events.  The more popular summer weekends quickly fill up.  Walk-in reservations (with payment) take priority over phone, faxed or emailed reservation requests (with payment).  To request booking a pavilion, please submit a completed Request for Use of Facilities/Know the Rules and required payment (credit card, check or cash) to the Town of Guilderland. You can drop off the required forms or mail them to Guilderland Parks & Recreation Department at 181 State Route 146, Altamont, NY 12009, or faxed to 518-456-3156.   You can view the availability calendar for Tawasentha Park Pavilion Rentals. 

I would like to congratulate the Chinese community on its celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Snake, with two weeks of festivals, dances, and special events.  You can join the local Chinese community on Sunday February 2 at 2:30pm at The Egg, when the Chinese Community Center is hosting its 52nd annual Lunar New Year Gala Show, with 18 performances including Peking Opera and Chinese Kungfu demonstrations, traditional fan and long-sleeve dances, Mongolian folk dances, modern hip-hop routines, and a chorus and folk instrument ensemble. Tickets are available now on The Egg’s website or at its box office.

On Friday, February 7 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm, the Guilderland YMCA is holding a Brooks Barbeque fundraiser to benefit YMCA's Annual Rise Up for a Better Community campaign.  You can pre-order meals and pick-up your order in a drive-thru.  

Community Caregivers, which offers wide-ranging services and support for seniors and their supporters, has a new virtual education series that is designed to support caregivers.  The plan is to offer new topics.  Among its services, Community Caregivers’ volunteers provide respite time for persons caring for loved ones.  You can help with this mission by volunteering your time and/or making donations.

The New York State Library’s calendar of public programs includes, on Tuesday, February 18 from 1pm to 2pm, A Protest History of the United States, an online talk by Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall about the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. 

The Guilderland Public Library’s upcoming calendar includes on Tuesday, February 4 from 2pm to 3:15pm, How We Create Pandemics, From Our Bodies to Our Beliefs, when Smithsonian curator Sabrina Sholts will provide a virtual talk on how and why pandemics are an inescapable threat of our own making.  On Tuesday, February 11 from 7pm to 8:15pm, the Library will present Dystopian Tropes from an Indigenous Perspective,       when bestselling author Waubgeshig Rice will have a virtual chat about his newest book Moon of the Turning Leaves.

On Saturday, February 9 from 10 am to Noon, the Library is hosting the 3^rd annual “Shower Them With Love” event when you drop off hygiene products for local youth for distribution by The Caring Closet.    

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve’s winter calendar includes on this Saturday, February 1 at 10am, Deep Freeze, when you can learn more on how amphibians and reptiles survive through the winter weather.  The event includes an informational presentation followed by a 0.9-mile hike over sand dunes (including some stairs).  If necessary, the hike will be a snowshoe outing, with snowshoes provided.  On Sunday, February 2 at 2pm, the Preserve will celebrate Groundhog’s Day, with Groggy Groundhogs, a 1-mile hike and talk on groundhogs and woodchucks, and a discuss of the origins of Groundhog Day and making own predictions about how long winter will last. 

The Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy has opened 4-miles of trails in its Upper Bozen Kill Preserve, a 225-acre property at the end of Bond Road.  The new trail system also connects to the existing trail system at the Lower Bozen Kill Preserve.  The total trails are nearly 6 miles.  You can access the new entrance to the Upper Bozen Kill Preserve by continuing north on Westfall Road past the existing Lower Bozen Kill Preserve entrance and turn left on Bond Rd.  A parking lot and preserve kiosk is located at the end of the road.  The trail system is open year-round, and given its elevation, often, like this week, has sufficient snow for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  

On next Saturday, February 8 from 9am to 11am, the MHLC has an Intro to Winter Hiking and Snowshoeing winter hike at the Bennett Hill Preserve in Clarksville, with a guided hike on winter trails and helpful suggestions on how to safely enjoy your outings.  You should bring your snowshoes and/or spikes, and if there is no snow, it will still take place.  On Saturday, February 15 at 10am, the MHLC is hosting Winter Wildlife Tracking, when Dan Yacobellis, a certified Level 3 Track & Sign facilitator, who has studied the animals of the northeast and their habitats for three decades, will lead a hike at the 208-acre Winn Preserve in Altamont.

In case you are curious and like to plan ahead, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has announced that it is monitoring an asteroid that has a 1.2% of striking somewhere on earth on December 22, 2032.  No need to panic now, and, as more accurate data is collected over the years, the odds of an impact should fall to zero.  And, no, an Executive Order alone will not steer the asteroid away.  

Town Hall will be closed on Monday, February 17 for Presidents’ Day.  The Transfer Station will also be closed on Tuesday, February 18.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  

 Peter G. Barber

Town Supervisor